The Indian telecom market is amongst the most competitive and fastest growing in the world. Mobile telephony, which was introduced in the country only in 1995, has taken giant strides in terms of network coverage and subscriber numbers. In this sixteen year period, India has become the world’s second largest mobile telecommunications market, with a mobile subscriber base of 861.7 million customers.

In 1996, tariffs were very high, with outgoing calls priced at Rs 12 per minute and incoming calls priced at Rs 8 per minute.

It was a time when mobile phones were considered a status symbol and a prerogative of a select few customers. Today, call rates are Re 0.20 per second for outgoing calls and all incoming calls are free. This clearly reflects the huge transformation that the industry has undergone, from being a seller’s market to one that is wholly focused upon and driven by the customer.

In this context, Gujarat certainly has a crème customer profile. The state of Gujarat accounts for 5 per cent of the country’s population, but contributes to 35 per cent of India’s stock market wealth!

Vodafone India commenced operations in the Gujarat telecom space in 1996, under Cell Force brand. We are currently present in over 16,700 towns in the state, with over 16 million mobile subscribers. Cell Force went on to become Hutch and Hutch got acquired by Vodafone. Since 2005, when Vodafone took over Hutch, the company has added significantly to its subscriber base. The Gujarat telecom space currently contributes to close to 4 per cent to the company’s overall operations.

Vodafone in Gujarat

Gujarat became the first of the company’s circles to cross 1.5 million subscribers in 2012. Over the past five years, we have witnessed growth of almost 195 per cent in the state, with an addition of over 10,630,000 subscribers. The company has a network of six zonal offices in Ahmedabad, Baroda, Rajkot, Surat, Mehsana and Gandhidham and branch offices in Godhra, Vapi, Bhavnagar, Junagadh and Jamnagar.

Vodafone India has also witnessed the highest number of port-in customers through the Mobile Number Portability facility launched by the Department of Telecommunications. With almost 4,35,000 mobile customers switching over to Vodafone in the state, Gujarat along with Karnataka and Maharashtra, accounts for 40 per cent of net port-in figures for the company. In Gujarat, Vodafone’s urban- rural retail presence stands at 1:4 per cent.

Moreover, the operator has launched several sales and marketing initiatives in the state. Vodafone India has over 113,700 retail outlets across the state and its “HarGaon, HamaraGaon”, campaign, initiated in 2006, highlighted its plan to establish its presence in every town and village with a population of over 1,000.

Another interesting initiative is the launch of the Angel Stores in Ahmedabad and Vadodara. These stores are run by women employees, with the twin objectives of providing a secure environment for female employees and customers.

Vistaar: Widening the lead

In 2011, Vodafone India launched the Vistaar scheme to expand its rural distribution base, by enhancing the reach of its network, retail outlets and service points.

Going forward, the operator will focus on widening the scope and reach of its 3G and value added services portfolios.